Art is a natural part of human experience which can help us process or comes to terms with deeper emotions and encounters. Art can showcase love, beauty, pain, life itself, or be used to depict an inner self.
We’ve gathered a list of some of our favourite quotes and passages about art from a variety of audiobooks and creators to inspire the creator within you.
Quotes to Inspire
Art can move you, push you out of your comfort zone, and spur you on towards new beginnings. Ultimately, art will either make you feel, or comes from a place of deep feeling. It is meant to inspire, and to connect with listeners and viewers. Let these quotes about art and creativity inspire you to create, too.
1.“A blank canvas...has unlimited possibilities.” - Isla and the Happily Ever After
2.“Go out there with your passion and your electric typewriter and work hard at...something. Change lives through art maybe. Cherish your friends, stay true to your principles, live passionately and fully and well.” - One Day
3.“Eleanor was right. She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something.” - Eleanor and Park
Art Quotes About Love and Emotion
Emotion is the heart of good art. Without it, art has no relevance, weight, or connection. Whether it is embracing love, or showcasing a lack of it, art can highlight emotions far better than almost anything else. Here are some emotive quotes about art and love.
4.“One thing about great art: it made you love people more, forgive them their petty transgressions. It worked in the way that religion was supposed to, if you thought about it” - Juliet, Naked
5.“If a painting really works down in your heart and changes the way you see, and think, and feel, you don’t think, ‘Oh, I love this picture because it’s universal.’ ‘I love this painting because it speaks to all mankind.’ That’s not the reason anyone loves a piece of art. It’s a secret whisper from an alleyway. Psst, you. Hey kid. Yes you.” - The Goldfinch
6.“What is bad for the heart is good for art. The terrible irony of our lives as artists.” - I'll Give You the Sun
7.“Art and love are the same thing: It’s the process of seeing yourself in things that are not you.” - Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story
Quotes About the Self and Art
Art is often more about the artist, than the viewer or listener. Whether it is a self-portrait or an abstract work, true art will offer a glimpse into the heart and soul of the artist. These quotes from some of our favourite audiobooks offer that glimpse into how art can showcase the self, and become part of your identity.
8.“So that’s what art is, for the artist,” said Crake. “An empty drainpipe. An amplifier. A stab at getting laid.” - Oryx and Crake
9."I am a museum full of art but you had your eyes shut" - Milk and Honey
10.“For you to see beauty here/does not mean/there is beauty in me/it means there is beauty rooted/so deep within you/you can't help but/see it everywhere” - Milk and Honey
11.“Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter” - The Picture of Dorian Gray
12.“All I wanted was my art and the chance to be the creator of my own world, my own reality. I wanted the open road and new beginnings every day.” - Empty Roads and Broken Bottles
13.“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” - No Man is an Island
Quotes About Life and Art
Art is at the very heart of life. It is always present, and so important in experiencing and expressing a full life. We’ve gathered together some favourite quotes that explain how art and life are deeply connected.
14.“Art is long and life is brief and mortality looms.” - The Robber Bride
15.“You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.” - Zen in the Art of Writing
16.“One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.” - Wilhem Meister's Apprentice
17.“Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.” - The Rock that is Higher: Story as Truth
18.“If we, citizens, do not support our artists, then we sacrifice our imagination on the altar of crude reality and we end up believing in nothing and having worthless dreams.” - Life of Pi
19.“Here's my theory about meetings and life: the three things you can't fake are erections, competence and creativity.” - JPod
20.“Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.” - Mere Christianity
21.“Nature is a haunted house—but Art—is a house that tries to be haunted.” - The Complete Collection of Emily Dickinson's Poems
